Scorpu

The transition between the fixed nozzle section and the nozzle extension doesn't look very realistic. Look how seamless it is on the RL10B-2, which this in game engine seems to be based on.

Falcon 9 stages are 3.6 meters in diameter. Fairings are 5.2 meters. It's impossible to match appearance, size, and mass at the same time in stock KSP. To match appearance a lot of parts like structural panels and struts would have to be used for visual detailing. Except parts in stock KSP are very heavy for balancing reasons and with that the mass requirement goes out the window.

It's not a gravity assist. It's just splitting the trans-lunar injection into two burns.

Earth (I use RSS). Once you reach low Earth orbit, you are halfway to anywhere in the Solar System (at least delta v wise). Also because it looks beautiful from orbit. And when you land, it means you're back home.

@DrakenexNot everyone plays on the most recent KSP version. There are people still using 1.3.1, 1.6.1 and 1.7.3 for Realistic Progression 1 (RP-1) mod. Heck, I am still using KSP 1.2.2 for my RP-0 save. The new Starliner mod might not be compatible with older KSP versions, so there is a reason to keep this mod alive. Thank you.

This is a crewed mission to Mars, that I have worked on for almost a year. I used (and still use) KSP version 1.2.2 with Real Solar System, Realism Overhaul and Realistic Progression 0 mods (RP-0, not to be confused with the newer RP-1). The reason why I still use KSP 1.2.2 is because of my 4 year old RP-0 career save (created in January 2016) that is in the very advanced stage of progression. The year in that save is 2029 as of typing this post. It wasn't possible to transfer that save to KSP 1.3.1, because the evolution of RP-0 (called RP-1) that was released for KSP 1.3.1 changed too many things for my old save to be compatible. My long running RP-0 save is also the reason why completing my Mars mission took so long. It's not a 'single mission' save, there are many other missions in progress simultaneously, that need to be attended to from time to time (probe course corrections, moon/planet flybys, station crew rotations etc). More detail about my Mars mission and vehicles that took part in it, can be found here: https://imgur.com/gallery/6J8m9Iz - Mars Cargo Landers launches https://imgur.com/gallery/ArUGAnf - MTV assembly https://imgur.com/gallery/jfTB9sp - Departure to Mars https://imgur.com/gallery/DQkeCoQ - Arrival on Mars https://imgur.com/gallery/A965gZw - Departure from Mars

@Hungry_Dragon265Your tank has liquid hydrogen and stock KSP oxidizer in it. RL10 in Realism Overhaul uses liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen. In VAB, right click on your tank part and select 'delete all tanks' option. It should then show you an option of '72% LH2/28%LqdOxygen' (or something similar, I don't remember the exact numbers for RL10). Click that, it will automatically fill your tank with a correct fuel to oxidizer ratio that RL10 engine uses. And if it doesn't work for this tank, then just use Procedural Parts.

@GP_LeChuck Are you playing with stock physics or with Principia? With stock physics, because of the way Real Solar System simulates Earth's axial tilt (by tilting the entire Solar System by 23.5 degrees), axial tilt of every other body including the Moon, is completely wrong. This causes the Moon to have polar days and nights just like on real Earth. So it's not actually possible to have 'peaks of eternal light' on the Moon when using RSS with stock physics. You'll get about half year of light and half year of darkness when you land in the right spot near one of the poles. Prinicipia adds n-body physics and though I'm not sure exactly how, the creators of this mod managed to implement proper axial tilts for every planet and moon.

I hope Real Solar System, Realism Overhaul and a bit of alternate history are allowed. To clarify, most footage that's in the video was recorded in a sandbox save (beginning to 10:54 mark), but it is based on a mission that I did properly in a RP-0 career save (proofs: https://imgur.com/gallery/fvBWv & https://imgur.com/gallery/8n6Pl0R). I just didn't have PC good enough for recording when I started this mission.

There is an expansion for RSS that includes some transneptunians: https://github.com/PhineasFreak/RSSExpansion. As to why aren't those part of base RSS, it might be because RSS devs wanted to limit the number of bodies that are added to the game, so that the mod isn't using too much RAM. Highest resolution textures for base RSS take up ~550MB of disc space, so imagine the RAM usage with another dozen or so Kuiper Belt objects.

Here are crew vehicles from my RP-0 save. From left to right: Apollo Block IV, CST-100 Starliner, Orion MPCV and HL-20 spaceplane. Apollo spacecraft has been in service for almost 50 years now (there were upgrades along the way), it's been transporting astronauts to space station in LEO for the last 30 years and it took part in two manned Lunar landing programs (1968-1972 & 1998-2012). It will be retired soon and spacecraft shown above are its successors. Boeing's Starliner and Lockheed Martin's HL-20 will become new taxis for existing and future LEO space stations. Orion is the new deep space exloration vehicle, it will transport crew to Lunar space station and take part in testflights of various Mars mission hardware. After all the testing is done and the Lunar station is retired, Orion will go to Mars.

I made a recreation of the "Curiosity" rover in Real Solar System.

I landed this 899 kg guy on Mars yesterday. I pushed KSP to its limit, but it worked. It wouldn't be possible without the Throttle Controlled Avionics mod. This one mod basically saved the whole recreation . Here's a link to full album, I don't want to spam 15 images in one post: https://imgur.com/a/a0bwe .

@njbrown09 There are no axial tilts due to limitations of the game engine. Instead the entire Solar System is tilted by 23 degrees to simulate Earth's axial tilt.

@ILikeIke In KSPTOT you can right click on a window where you insert time and chose 'Enter UT as Date/Time'.

Today I have beaten my personal record for the longest orbital insertion burn. It happened during Mars orbital insertion of MARIO spacecraft. Mods: Real Solar System/Realism Overhaul/Realistic Progression 0. I started the burn 37 minutes before periapsis. At least I had a lot of time to admire the views. Here's one of my favorite formations on Mars, the Noctis Labyrinthus. Acraeus Mons on the left and Tharsis Tholus on the right. Propulsion still nominal. After 1 hour 27 minutes and 54 seconds (of ingame time) the burn is over. I ended up burning 200 m/s more because of steering losses. But I didn't really care, because I had lots of delta v left and I can save 1200 m/s with aerobraking. Long orbital insertion burns are more punishing around smaller planets, I guess. For my next Mars orbiter I'm taking an 890 Newton thruster.

What about RP-0? It was created to balance all of the part costs in Realism Overhaul. Without RP-0, the same parts coming from two different mods, both with configs for RO could have different costs. For example I have 2 non-RP0 Star-37 motors in my install, but one costs 99 funds and the other costs 150 (both have the same RO config, same mass, same performance). Just saying that two or more players could use the same engine, but from different mods and end up with different results.

Introducing the Ares rocket family from my KSP 1.2.2 RP-0 career. Link to imgur album: https://imgur.com/a/ORYHj . Family portrait The lift capacity to low Earth orbit ranges from 25 tons to 180 tons. On Ares I and II both stages are 5.5 meters wide. Ares III, IV and V use 8.4m wide common core stage, Ares V upper stage is also 8.4m wide. Ares VI uses 10m wide core stage and upper stage. Pyrios Boosters on Ares V and VI are 5.5m wide and they are basically a stretched Ares I first stage with 2 F-1B engines. Ares II first stage is Pyrios with single F-1B. Boosters on Ares III and IV are 3.6m wide. Ares I Ares I is the workhorse of my manned space program. It launches crewed Apollo and uncrewed resupply ships to the space station in LEO. Payload to LEO says 23 - 25 tons, because on crewed Apollo flights overall payload capacity is a bit lower due to the 4 tons added by the Launch Escape System tower. The rocket is very reliable, so thankfully I never had to use the LES. Ares II If you combine Ares I upper stage and Ares V strap-on booster, you get this thing. I had to optimize it though, because 2 F-1B engines were giving it to high thrust to weight ratio while single F-1B was not powerful enough. That's why it has 4 Merlins and 6 GEMs 60. So far I only tested it in simulations. I plan on using it when time comes for my manned missions to Mars. It will launch the crewed Orion spacecraft and the Mars Descent Vehicle hidden inside the petal adapter to the Mars Transfer Vehicle waiting in LEO. Ares III It's basically a simplified 8.4m Ares without any upper stage. I only used configuration like this once, when I launched the first and heaviest (70 t) module of my Unity Space Station. At that time Ares was a new rocket, it used 4 RS-25 A engines, and less powerful solid rocket boosters. This is the new version of that old design, with lighter core stage, more powerful RS-25 Ds and RSRMVs. Ares IV Take Ares I upper stage and put it on top of 8.4m Ares core. What you get is a space probes ride to the outer planets and astronauts ride to the lunar space station. This configuration also hasn't flown yet. Payload to Jupiter varies so much because delta v on each Jupiter transfer window is also different. It can be anywhere between 6200 m/s and 7000 m/s. Payload to LEO is only an estimate, because this rocket is not supposed to launch heavy payloads to LEO. Ares V This rocket is the workhorse of my 'Altair' manned lunar landing program. So far it launched 13 crewed missions to the Moon and by the time the program ends, it will increase to 15. I also plan to use this rocket to launch a lunar space station. Ares VI Last but not least is the biggest Ares rocket I designed. I will use it during my manned Mars landing program. It will launch segments of Mars Transfer Vehicle to low Earth orbit and cargo landers with supplies, habitats and Mars Ascent Vehicle to Mars.

@NSEP, @hypervelocity, @DrLicor I'm also entering the competition with my Ares rocket family (25t - 180t to LEO). Just need to prepare some cool blueprint-ish images.

@Julien Kerman Now build Paris VII . I made an album that shows how my lunar missions work. The video I made was mostly cinematic, so it didn't have much technical details. Images are from my most recent mission, which targeted a landing site on the edge of South Pole - Aitken Basin. Full album here: https://imgur.com/gallery/HOLR7

Today I tested my rover based on NASA's Curiosity. It's still work in progress, but has most of major components. I gave up on building a functional rocker-bogie suspension because of Infernal Robotics made parts of suspension wiggle all over the place. Instead I focused on the robotic arm and the mast. I added that procedural tank as a ballast, so that rover weighs exactly 899 kg. It's my first selfie in KSP. Setting up the robotic arm took me 7 minutes.

@LordOfMinecraft99Those look like SSTU F-1B engines. I don't think that SSTU M-1 has a gas generator exhaust like that.

@Julien Kerman I was talking about the final version of Ares V. Earlier versions would use RSRMV, so the description is correct. I tested my Ares V with 3 different sets of boosters: 2x Dark Knight SRB (from Sobol's SLS pack), 2x Pyrios F-1B boosters (the ones from my lunar mission video) and 4x RSRMV. The core stage had 5 RS-68B engines (414 isp vac) and upper stage had 2 J-2X engines. With 2 RSRMV boosters the payload to LEO was 150 tons. With Dark Knight SRBs the payload to LEO was 165 tons, with 200 m/s left in EDS. These boosters have a dry mass of 75 tons (RSRMV have 85 tons) and they have more solid fuel while being the same size as RSRMVs. With Pyrios boosters payload increased to 175 tons. If liftoff TWR was higher, it would reach the magical 180 tons. The weight at liftoff was 5100 tons here. This variant delivered 200 tons to LEO and had 250m/s left.

@Julien Kerman That is a very good looking Ares V. I also tested this rocket couple days ago in my own save. And I had the same problem with the upper stage. I only managed to put 150 tons into LEO after I added a second J-2X engine. I don't know how they wanted to launch with only 1 J-2X. They would have to aim for a very high apoapsis or launch the upper stage short-fueled (like ULA sometimes does this with Centaur). But then they wouldn't reach those 180 tons. Maybe you could use more powerful boosters? The real Ares V was supposed to use 5,5 segment SRMs and those in KSP are 5 segment SRMs.

This is Unity Space Station from my RSS/RO/RP-0 career. It weighs around 360 tons and has 17 modules, 9 of which are habitable. Here's a link to imgur album showing Unity's assembly: https://imgur.com/a/IkQoo